Culture

By breaking 900 classical piano compositions into musical chunks, researchers could track Ludwig van Beethoven’s influence on the composers who followed him. Christopher Intagliata reports. 

Here are a few brief reports about science and technology from around the world, including one from off the California coast about the first heart rate measurement done on a blue whale.

Science in meter and verse

Archaeologists have dated figurative rock art from Sulawesi to at least 43,900 years ago

Saving the Florida panther, cornfield espionage and racial profiling, and more

Cosmos co-creator discusses communicating her dream for humanity 

Inbreeding in Thoroughbreds has increased significantly in the past 45 years, with the greatest rise occurring in the past 15 or so of them.

Art created by Australian Aboriginal people used organic carbon-free pigments, but wasp nests above or below the art can be used for radiocarbon dating that supplies boundaries for the age of artworks.

A very fine grind can actually hamper espresso brewing, because particles may clump more than larger particles will.

Duke University evolutionary biologist Mohamed A. F. Noor talks about his book Live Long and Evolve: What Star Trek Can Teach Us about Evolution, Genetics, and Life on Other Worlds.

Neandertals ate clams and then modified the hard shells into tools for cutting and scraping.

Whiskeys claimed to be from the 19th century are revealed to be made with much more recently grown barley, thanks to the unique isotopic fingerprint of the nuclear-testing era.